Conventional bakery fillings include relatively high amounts of corn syrup, sugar and starches in order to sufficiently sweeten and sufficiently thicken the bakery filling. Each of these ingredients contribute to the high caloric content of the bakery filling. Accordingly, investigators have attempted to reduce the number of calories in bakery fillings in order to satisfy consumers that desire a sweet and flavorful bakery product, but also desire to limit caloric intake. However, it has proved difficult to develop a bakery filling that responds to various consumer demands for both taste and reduced caloric content.
One proposed method of maintaining the sweetness level of the bakery filling while reducing caloric content is to substitute an artificial sweetener for the sugar and corn syrup. Artificial sweeteners, like saccharin or aspartame, have been successfully incorporated into jams, jellies and fruit toppings to reduce caloric content. However, artificial sweeteners have not been incorporated into bakery fillings because the artificial sweeteners do not provide an acceptable product after baking. In addition, incorporating a sufficiently high amount of an artificial sweetener into a bakery filling interferes with the natural fruit flavor of the bakery filling. A primary consumer demand with respect to bakery fillings is a natural flavor.
Another method of reducing the caloric content of a bakery filling is to use a sweetener that is high in fructose as opposed to using sucrose or a sweetener like corn syrup that is high in dextrose. Fructose provides more sweetness per calorie than either dextrose or sucrose.
Fructose has been used in fruit filings. For example, Tenn, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,080, discloses a fruit filling for pastry that is high in fructose. Tenn discloses a high solid fruit filling that includes: 1) about 60% to about 76% corn syrup containing a substantial amount of fructose, and 2) about 22% to about 25% by weight water. In addition, Tenn discloses increasing the starch content of the fruit filling. As will be demonstrated in more detail hereinafter, the present bakery fillings include about 10% to about 35% of a high-fructose corn syrup; include a decreased amount of starch compared to amounts usually present in a bakery filling; and provide a reduced calorie bakery filling with enriched natural flavor.
Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,871 discloses a fruit jelly that is high in fructose and can include locust bean gum as a gelling agent. The fruit jelly disclosed by Cooper is a spreadable jelly that includes a relatively small amount of fruit compared to a bakery filling. Neither Tenn nor Cooper teach or disclose a bakery filling that has a reduced caloric content and that retains or enhances natural flavor.
Other patents relating to sweetening fruit products and bakery products include Weast U.S. Pat. No. 2,536,970; Walker U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,489; Lemaire et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,356,512; Horn U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,769; Barton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,967; and Scharschrnidt U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,151.
As previously stated, conventional bakery fillings are sweetened with corn syrup and sugar (sucrose). The corn syrup is intentionally added to the bakery filling to sweeten the bakery filling. Sugar often is an ingredient in fruit bakery fillings either as an intentionally added ingredient or because fruit component of the bakery filling includes a large amount of sugar. Until the bakery filling of the present invention, no bakery filling has included a high fructose corn syrup as a total replacement for corn syrup, and included non-sugared fruit, to provide a sufficiently sweet bakery filling that includes a caloric content at least one-third less than conventional bakery fillings and that exhibits enriched natural flavor.
In addition, to further assist reducing the caloric content and enriching the flavor of the present bakery fillings, the bakery fillings utilize a food gum as a partial replacement for the food starch that is included in conventional bakery fillings. The food gums, unlike the food starches, are not metabolized, and therefore do not contribute to the caloric content of the bakery filling. Furthermore, the food gum helps reduce masking of the flavor by the food starch, and, in conjunction with the food starch, provides a bakery filling having a commercially acceptable viscosity.